SALINE COUNTY, Kansas (KSN) -- There's a new way to fight crime in Saline County -- with hidden cameras.
Buried in the woods in rural Saline county, relatively inexpensive "game cameras" are the Sheriff's department's latest crime-fighting tool.
"We started using cameras here roughly two or three years ago," said Lt. Stan Fruits, with the Saline County Sheriff's office. "We use for anything we are conducting an investigation on."
Over the weekend, a camera hidden in a place popular for illegal dumping helped deputies nab a suspect. The pictures clearly show a license plate and a man driving the truck, enough to give authorities a lead.
"The tag was on a Ford and it came back to it being on a Chevy, the owner of the tag is telling us it was stolen," said Captain Brian Shea, Saline County Sheriff's office.
Additional deputies were put on alert, and Tuesday afternoon, the suspect's truck was spotted driving near South 9th Street in Salina. When the driver pulled over, deputies found drugs, paraphernalia, stolen property, and a child not properly buckled into the truck.
"Sometimes that's the way it works," said Fruits. "You're investigating one thing and as the investigation evolves, you get into other things."
A reminder, say deputies, that cameras could be watching even if officers aren't.
"If they get caught, they'll have to pay the consequences," said Fruits.
Saline County bought the cameras a couple of years ago online -- with extra money they had in the budget.
